Noctorum

Coordinates: 53°22′48″N 3°04′31″W / 53.38°N 3.0753°W / 53.38; -3.0753

Noctorum
Noctorum  Noctorum shown within Merseyside
Population	4,990 (2001 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	SJ285875
Metropolitan borough	Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Metropolitan county	Merseyside
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PRENTON
Postcode district	CH43
Dialling code	0151
Police	Merseyside
Fire	Merseyside
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Birkenhead
List of places: UK • England • Merseyside

Noctorum is a suburb of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. At the 2001 Census the population of Noctorum was 4,990 (2,360 males, 2,630 females).^[1]

Ridgeway High School and the Discovery City Learning Centre (containing Ridgeway Library) is situated within this suburb. There is also a large council estate located here.

Upton railway station is the nearest station to Noctorum. It is located on the Borderlands Line between Bidston and Wrexham.

History

The name Noctorum is of Old Irish origin, originally Cnocc Tirim, meaning 'Dry Hill'.^[2] This may be in reference to Bidston Hill,^{[citation needed]} of which Noctorum is situated on its western slope. The name may long pre-date the Norse-Irish settlement in the early 10th century and go back to a Hibernian settlement of the west coast in the Sub-Roman period (early 5th century).^{[citation needed]}

Noctorum appears as Chenoterie (Norman French) in the Domesday Book of 1086.^[3] "Chêne" (French for oak) may be used here as in the Wirral hamlet of Landican (Old Welsh/Brythonic) called Landechene, the Oak Enclosure in the Norman French of the Doomsday Book.

Noctorum was a township of the parish of Woodchurch, in the Wirral Hundred. The population was 17 in 1801, 32 in 1851 and 212 in 1901.^[4] It was added to Birkenhead civil parish in 1933 and part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire, until local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Wirral 2001 Census: Noctorum, Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, http://www.wirral.gov.uk/factsandfigures/census2001/oneward2recset.asp?ref=TS28, retrieved 3 July 2007 
2. ^ What's in a Name?, icliverpool.co.uk, http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=scandinavians-trace-their-viking-roots-------in-wirral&method=full&objectid=13103933&page=3&siteid=50061-name_page.html, retrieved 26 June 2007 
3. ^ Cheshire L-Z, The Domesday Book Online, http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/cheshire2.html, retrieved 16 January 2009 
4. ^ Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Noctorum, GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy, http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/chs/noctorum.html, retrieved 1 May 2008